That Unusual Insight
by Endine
Summary: The only way to make someone feel better is to show them the possibilities.


**That summary is just wow terrible ok I've not written much but I have a general idea of what this is going be about if you like this can you comment and say if you want FrostIron? this probably won't update much but I WILL UPDATE I WON'T LEAVE IT I'D FEEL BAD.**

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'That's it, Tony'

'What? What's it? What is it? Oh no, Pepper! Pep sweetheart no it's not-'

Pepper waved her hands in the universal 'shushing' movement and took a deep breath, slowly looking up to Tony's eyes.

To be fair, this had been a long time coming; their relationship had been deteriorating ever since the situation with Loki a few months back… Tony had been constantly called out on missions or helping S.H.I.E.L.D. with the clean energy project Fury had actually set up, Tesseract or no, Tony was a great asset. Pepper had been occupied with running the ever expanding business that was Stark Industries despite Natasha's help in organizing; she was still staying in the office into the early hours of the morning. What she's trying to say is, there just hasn't been time… and despite how much she loves Tony, it's better for the both of them if they stay apart as the relationship isn't, and can't, go anywhere with their current schedules.

'No Tony.' She took a deep breath and paused before saying it, the words refusing to come out. 'We're done.' She felt great relief come over her as she said the words that would determine her future from now on, though only a bit of regret for the relationship she was leaving.

'Pep… No Pep I love you don't do this, I'll do anything, I mean anything. Asgard's the limit. Seriously. You want to go see Thor on Asgard? I can hook it up completely, honestly being friends with a God is brilliant.'

Pepper brought her hand up to her brow and started massaging it, she'd seen this coming. 'Tony… I'm sure Asgard would be lovl-'

'Great! We'll sort it out-'

'Tony I'm not going to Asgard.' Tony tried to interrupt and with some speed and precision she was quite proud of, covered his mouth with her hand, effectively silencing him. 'I am leaving. Now. I am packing up my stuff from the house which is now yours, and only yours, and I am moving back into my flat.' She removed her hand from Tony's mouth, disregarded his shocked puppy dog eyes, and turned to exit.

Tony was stumped for all of 2 seconds – which was quite a long time for him, to be fair. He suddenly realised what was happening, what he had been dreading for quite a while now, and moved to counteract what Pepper was trying. He ran in front of the door, grasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. He had to look up because apparently he didn't get his dad's tall genes and stopped growing at about 15. 'Pep, please, I love you.'

Pepper tried to pry Tony's hands off her but he wouldn't budge 'Tony-'

'No! Pep this is madness – come on you're the only girl that I've stuck with for more than a night. The only girl that's stuck with _me_ for more than a night – which is actually quite sad now I think about it.. But back to the topic– I love you and well, remember that night?'

Pepper knew the one immediately 'The charity fair'

'Yes that one we-'

'The one where you left me outside waiting for you for 20 minutes, convinced you'd return?'

'No- well- yes- but never mind that. Remember Pep, before I deserted you to save some Afghani children; we danced'

Despite herself, she smiled fondly 'yes, it was lovely and incredibly awkward' Derek from I.T. had been glaring holes in the back of Tony's head. In fact she didn't even know how he got in… She'd have to look into that when she got back to the office Monday morning.

'Yes- well not this awkward bit- but you remember you told me you weren't wearing deodorant and I told you you smelt lovely?'

'Oh God Tony stop righ-'

Tony barged on regardless, as his mouth seemed to have a (extremely arrogant) mind of its own. He had to get that checked out. 'Well Pepper you actually did smell- reek in fact, but only from a close range' he shushed Pepper's outraged protests 'But –you see- that was the moment I realised you were more than just a hot body and a super quick mind that I wouldn't mind having a- well you know, I realised I loved you Pep, and not like a poster-girl on my bedroom wall kind of love; love love you know? So pepper you can't leave. It's not possible. In fact, JARVIS have this door locked and revoke access for Pepper Potts until further notice'

'Don't you dare, JARVIS' Pepper said still looking straight into Tony's eyes.

'I will have to comply with Ms Potts on this, Sir.' the door opened with a hiss that resounded around the empty Malibu workshop. Tony was on vacation from Stark, or the recently not-so-privately-renamed "avengers tower", indeterminately.

'JARVIS you backstabbing, heartless piece of trash' Tony said, scandalised, as he looked up to the ceiling, allowing for Pepper to remove Tony's hands from her shoulders and duck out the door.

'I do believe keeping Ms Potts locked in the workshop would break several laws of The United States of America, as well as lower your _incredibly high_ standards and her views of you, as for being heartless; I am an Artificial Intelligence software and therefore, have no heart'

'Don't sass me, JARVIS' Tony seemed to have realised Pepper was no longer in front of him and turned to leave 'We're not done here. You and me, JARVIS, we're having a talk about loyalties' He hissed as he stepped towards the door but it slid shut before he made it halfway. 'JARVIS what the hell? Why is my own door shutting on me? Why are my codes not opening it? JARVIS?'

'Ms Potts has commanded me to close it for the period of 2 hours, also for the garage door to be closed for this amount of time. She left a message telling you not to follow her when the doors open, not to call her unless it's for business reasons for the next 3 days, not to break the glass, or anything connecting the inside to the outside of this room trying to escape the lock down, she wishes to still be friends with you, and she tells you not to get drunk'

Well, fuck.

Tony stood staring at the glass door. What was he going to do? Pepper had obviously made her mind up. Friends. He could do that, maybe. he could do friends with benefits. He'd done that before. He could do it again. But not with Pepper. He loved Pepper. Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pepper Pe-

He slapped himself.

He dragged his feet into something that only vaguely resembled walking and sat in the chair in front of his work desk.

'To hell with that' He said as he reached for the whiskey and didn't bother with a glass. 'Friends my ass' It's only as he's finished the third bottle that he realised 'loved' was in the past tense.

This is, incidentally, the point where Tony Stark's life takes a rather unhealthy turn for the worst.

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